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book_concierge 's review for:
I Was Anastasia
by Ariel Lawhon
Book on CD narrated by Jane Collingwood and Sian Thomas.
3.5***
In February 1920 a young woman was pulled senseless from a canal in Berlin. Upon examination at a hospital, doctors found her body riddled with horrific scars. For some time she refused to speak or reveal her name, but ultimately she claimed to be the Grand Duchess Anastasia Romanov, the sole survivor of the massacre of her entire family. Her detractors claimed she was a liar and charlatan, intent only on claiming the Romanov fortune. She became known as Anna Anderson and spent the rest of her life trying to prove her identity.
Lawhon uses a dual timeline / narration in this fascinating work of historical fiction. Anna’s story begins in 1970 and works backwards to 1918. Anastasia’s begins with the revolution in 1917 and moves forwards in time as the family is arrested, moved from location to location and ultimately faces the soldiers tasked with executing them all in July 1918.
I remember watching the movie Anastasia starring Ingrid Bergman and Yul Brynner with my mother. I’ve also read other books about the possibility that Anastasia survived; most recently The Kitchen Boy by Robert Alexander. I was fascinated then and remained fascinated by the possibility that one of the Romanov family members managed to survive / escape the slaughter. I was not alone.
Lawhon relies on the reader’s desire to believe as she crafts this story. She gives us an Anna Anderson who shows a steely resolve, courage and tenacity, while simultaneously remaining fragile and wounded. And she gives us an Anastasia who is prone to teenaged dreams and desires, but also pragmatic about the very real and dangerous situation in which she finds herself and her family. Little by little we see the similarities and possibilities that these two stories will fuse as one. We WANT to believe.
I can hardly wait for my F2F book club discussion.
I find the author notes at the end fascinating and enlightening. But DO wait to read them until you have finished the book.
Jane Collingwood and Sian Thomas narrated the audiobook, with Collingwood voicing Anna’s chapters and Thomas taking on Anastasia’s storyline. They do a marvelous job. I particularly liked the youth and innocence of Thomas’s voice as the teenaged Anastasia.
3.5***
In February 1920 a young woman was pulled senseless from a canal in Berlin. Upon examination at a hospital, doctors found her body riddled with horrific scars. For some time she refused to speak or reveal her name, but ultimately she claimed to be the Grand Duchess Anastasia Romanov, the sole survivor of the massacre of her entire family. Her detractors claimed she was a liar and charlatan, intent only on claiming the Romanov fortune. She became known as Anna Anderson and spent the rest of her life trying to prove her identity.
Lawhon uses a dual timeline / narration in this fascinating work of historical fiction. Anna’s story begins in 1970 and works backwards to 1918. Anastasia’s begins with the revolution in 1917 and moves forwards in time as the family is arrested, moved from location to location and ultimately faces the soldiers tasked with executing them all in July 1918.
I remember watching the movie Anastasia starring Ingrid Bergman and Yul Brynner with my mother. I’ve also read other books about the possibility that Anastasia survived; most recently The Kitchen Boy by Robert Alexander. I was fascinated then and remained fascinated by the possibility that one of the Romanov family members managed to survive / escape the slaughter. I was not alone.
Lawhon relies on the reader’s desire to believe as she crafts this story. She gives us an Anna Anderson who shows a steely resolve, courage and tenacity, while simultaneously remaining fragile and wounded. And she gives us an Anastasia who is prone to teenaged dreams and desires, but also pragmatic about the very real and dangerous situation in which she finds herself and her family. Little by little we see the similarities and possibilities that these two stories will fuse as one. We WANT to believe.
I can hardly wait for my F2F book club discussion.
I find the author notes at the end fascinating and enlightening. But DO wait to read them until you have finished the book.
Jane Collingwood and Sian Thomas narrated the audiobook, with Collingwood voicing Anna’s chapters and Thomas taking on Anastasia’s storyline. They do a marvelous job. I particularly liked the youth and innocence of Thomas’s voice as the teenaged Anastasia.